Baltimore Washington Eye Center, Maryland

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

“Almost all of our patients who are being scheduled for Cataract Surgery at Baltimore Washington Eye Center want to know what to expect from their recovery period,” said Arturo Betancourt, M.D. “Cataract surgery today is really very advanced and quite patient friendly.”

First, if you are in generally good health it is most likely that your cataract operation will be performed in the ambulatory surgery center at Baltimore Washington Eye Center-a close to home, convenient and friendly facility.” Our surgery center is comfortable and efficient and your entire cataract surgery procedure should take only 2-3 hours from the time you check in until the time you check out, commented Brad Spagnolo, M.D.

Second, modern cataract surgery is most often performed with either local or topical anesthesia so that there is really minimal if any “recovery” from the anesthesia used. Generally, you are feeling “back to normal” by the end of the day of your surgery or certainly by the next morning.

Third, with the advanced cataract surgery technique of “small incision phacoemulsification” there is only a need to create a tiny incision-often just a few millimeters-through which the cataract is removed and the intraocular lens is implanted. This tiny incision is so small that the wound healing is very quick.

Finally, depending on the type of lens implant that is used it is highly likely that your distance vision will be dramatically improved within 24 hours. In fact many patients actually are comfortable driving the next day after their cataract operation. If you have a multifocal or accommodating lens implant to correct both your distance and near vision, it might take a bit longer to appreciate the full clarity of the near vision correction. So, it is pretty likely that you will be back to work in a few days and you should be able to resume all of your normal activities within a couple of days.